Thursday, December 10, 2009

Kitchen Organizing Frenzy

Open storage isn't for everyone, to be sure, but I love it. But every once in awhile, you need to take everything down, give it good cleaning, and put it back together. Which is what I spent the last few days doing.

And I decided to channel my dad, the King of the Label Makers, and bust out the handy machine myself.

The tiered lazy susan holds vinegars and oils.

Handy magnetized wall units hold some of the more unusual seasonings and salts.

The main shelving area holds flour, sugar, some pasta, panko, cornmeal, honey, and finishing salts, with everyday spice racks below.I buy common spices in bulk (for cheap!) at Beiler's Market in Uniontown and replace them every year or two. They come in these nice plastic stackable containers, but the labelmaker is definitely going to make it easier than rifling through a stack to find what I want.

The lower lazy susan unit is so, so, so nice. It holds two additional smaller susans, the top of one is devoted to sweet/baking spices and one holds chili powders and spicy mixes.

Moving around, there are jars and grinders for less commonly used spices, like Fenugreek seeds.Bottom shelf now has clearly labeled grains. (Where in the world did all of those wheatberries come from?)

Everyday oils are on this lazy susan.

Another rack is on the other side of the frig.

And, finally a brilliant solution to storing plastic storage bags. There is a narrow cabinet next to the sink that holds the plastic wrap and foil, but the smaller bags were forever falling out on the floor, or hard to find. These labelled cups solved that problem.